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Day: August 7, 2018

On this day in 1782 General George Washington authorizes a medal for troops wounded in combat…….the Purple Heart.

All soldiers know that the Purple Heart is given to those who are wounded or killed while fighting in the nation’s wars. Most also know that those who are injured or die in terrorist attacks are eligible to receive the decoration, too. What most soldiers, and most Americans, do not realize, however, is that the Purple Heart is a unique military award. First, it is the oldest U.S. military decoration; General George Washington awarded the first purple-colored heart-shaped badges to soldiers who fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Second, until World War II, the Purple Heart was exclusively an Army decoration and, with rare exceptions, only soldiers received it; the Navy and Marine Corps lacked the authority to award it to sea service personnel. Finally, the Purple Heart is the only decoration awarded without regard to any person’s favor or approval; any soldier, sailor, airman or marine who sheds blood in defense of the nation is automatically awarded the Purple Heart. What follows is a history of this unique decoration and some of its soldier recipients

The Purple Heart is frequently described as the military’s oldest medal. Gen. George Washington created it in 1782 to recognize meritorious service — basically bravery in combat — but it soon fell into disuse. In 1932, to mark the bicentennial of Washington’s birth, Gen. Douglas MacArthur spearheaded an effort to revive the medal. It was designed to commemorate bravery, but also recognized soldiers with wounds.

To all service men and women and veterans that have been wounded in combat….Thank you for your service….I feel that saying is not enough to show our gratitude….please know that you are important to us here on IST…..Thank you and be well…..chuq

The Far Right thinks that demonizing Pres. Carter is the way to make their policies law…..they are wrong and anyone that criticizes Carter are wrong….from a foreign policy point of view Carter was a success on many levels…..most notably in the Middle east….it is possible that if he had won re-election the complexion of the conflict would be different. He seldom gets credit for the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) which was suppose to eliminate all nukes in the future….and then Reagan shows up and the conflict talk gets louder…..his only “sin” was the failed rescue attempt of the hostages in Iran…..the failure was not the fault of Carter or his plan…weather and malfunctioning equipment caused the failure….but according to many on the Right it was all Jimmy’s fault…kinda like everything these days is Obama’s fault. I will admit that Jimmy crapped in his corn flakes with the neutron bomb fiasco…..

There is no comparison with after presidency activism…Carter is far more down to earth than his wealthy greedy executives that followed…..but that aside let’s look at his foreign policy chops……

When the historian Walter Russell Mead in a Foreign Policyarticle published in early 2010, sought to criticize the Obama administration and warn it against the risks of “weakness and indecision” and “incoherence and reversals,” the essay’s headline evoked the threat of a “Carter syndrome.” The meaning was clear: a damning allusion to President Jimmy Carter’s famously weak foreign-policy record.

But there was a problem with Mead’s comparison: The conventional wisdom about Carter is wrong. Far from the feckless leader he’s often portrayed as today, Carter racked up more tangible successes in just four years than most other presidents have in eight.

Jimmy Carter deserves the atta boys he deserves…..not some made up BS from jealous politicos……my feeling is that the world would have been a better place if he had been given another term to implement his policies further……the Middle East may have looked different and nukes may have not been the bane they are these days……

Carter will always have a warm spot in my heart….even though I was a radical in those days his policies were well worth support.

I was doing my normal ritual of reading news and a bit of surfing before eating breakfast…..and a term caught my interest….”Pro-Trump Leftism”.

About here his his supporters will either have a stroke because of high blood pressure or they will do what they mostly do make some disjointed comment and “move on”……..

I will admit that in the beginning I was with Our Dear Leader on several of his foreign policy stands…..but sadly most of them were crap out of his mouth…….but I will give him his props….he has met with Kim and Vlad the Putin…I will agree that it is not a bad thing that they met….but without the experts in the same room nothing but niceties were exchanged.

Did you know there was such a political leaning as “Pro-Trump Leftism”? Really! No joke!

Some variation of this many-headed hydra of inane analysis is often trotted out to deflect criticism of Trump, typically wrapped in the silky veneer of Facebook radicalism from a number of self-proclaimed leftists. And while liberals knit ever more pussy hats for the inevitable flashmob of political nothingness, a relatively small, yet zealously self-important, segment of the left demands that much legitimate criticism of Trump be viewed as liberal talking points unleashed by the Deep StateTM to scuttle Trump’s long march to peace.

As absurd as it sounds, there are leftists who honestly believe that irrespective of his xenophobia and race-baiting, disastrous trade war and perpetual warmongering against Iran, Venezuela, Big Bird, Colin Kaepernick and Mika Brzezinski’s plastic surgeon, Donald Trump somehow represents a move toward peace globally.

Indeed, because of the Dotard’s doting on Putin, we should all sing hosannas as we erect cheaply made gold-plated monuments in his honor.

Now as an antiwar person I am all for global peace…..but as much as that is appealing I do not see any moves in that direction……instead mix messages are sent through the Twitter machine and nothing is promising so far.

Plus I will not abandon my principles for an outside chance of world peace and for the most part Our Dear Leader is everything I despise about our world today.

There has been much said about the d”deal” struck with the Kim/Trump “summit” back in June…..and there has been reports that there may be a deal on the nukes but they, North Korea, are still building long range missiles….then the question is if we are being “nice” to each other why does the North need long range missiles (of course we could ask that of the US also)

I thought I might help my readers an update on the situation with North Korea…….

Our Dear Leader received a letter from BFF Kim…….

President Trump teased an upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un on Thursday as the White House confirmed the North Korean leader sent him a letter “aimed at following up on their meeting in Singapore.” In a tweet, Trump thanked Kim for the “nice letter” and for keeping his promise of returning what’s believed to be the remains of US soldiers who fought in the Korean War, which arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday, per the AP. “I look forward to seeing you soon!” he added. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders didn’t comment on when the two leaders might meet again, but she said Kim’s letter spoke of “advancing the commitments made” at their June summit, spoofed in a K-pop artist’s latest music video, per CNN.

But how is this whole de-nukeing going? SecState Pompeo can answwer that…..

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea is far from living up to its pledge to denuclearize and remains in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions. Speaking Friday before he attends an Asian security forum with North Korea’s foreign minister, Pompeo told reporters in Singapore there was “still a ways to go” before achieving the goal of ridding the North of its nuclear weapons. Pompeo’s comments came after the White House announced Thursday that President Trump received a new letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and responded quickly with a letter of his own.

The correspondence came amid fresh concerns over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearization despite a rosy picture of progress painted by Trump, the AP reports. “Chairman Kim made a commitment to denuclearize,” Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to Singapore. “The world demanded that (he) do so in the UN Security Council resolutions. To the extent they are behaving in a manner inconsistent with that, they are in violation of one or both the UN Security Council resolutions, we can see we still have a ways to go to achieve the ultimate outcome we’re looking for.” (Intelligence officials reportedly suspect that North Korea is continuing to build new missiles.)

The US has been criticized at the ASEAN meeting……

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea is far from living up to its pledge to denuclearize and remains in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions. Speaking Friday before he attends an Asian security forum with North Korea’s foreign minister, Pompeo told reporters in Singapore there was “still a ways to go” before achieving the goal of ridding the North of its nuclear weapons. Pompeo’s comments came after the White House announced Thursday that President Trump received a new letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and responded quickly with a letter of his own.

The correspondence came amid fresh concerns over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearization despite a rosy picture of progress painted by Trump, the AP reports. “Chairman Kim made a commitment to denuclearize,” Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to Singapore. “The world demanded that (he) do so in the UN Security Council resolutions. To the extent they are behaving in a manner inconsistent with that, they are in violation of one or both the UN Security Council resolutions, we can see we still have a ways to go to achieve the ultimate outcome we’re looking for.” (Intelligence officials reportedly suspect that North Korea is continuing to build new missiles.)

That is as up to date as I can get without being in the loop with Pompeo and that shall not happen because I think he is a slug…..was so when in Congress and has not changed since becoming SecState.